[here was dante, minding his own business in kicking down a couple of trash cans and just overall being a menace, the surly owner of the devil may cry shop. scaring kids off is easy when you make a big show of it, but they seem to keep coming back to try and prank him or get inside the shop and play with toys that are definitely not for kids.]

[he's in the middle of grabbing one of the children by the ankle and pulling them up from the dumpster—the child, laughing like this is the best thing to ever happen to him, squirms and wriggles, but dante's hold is stalwart.]

Listen here, you little demon—

[and yet his words are cut off as a man of defined poise and too-long hair comes bearing questions at him. he's in some kind of uniform, so dante just glares at the kid, hissing hurriedly you got the cops involved, i'm going to gut you and make minced meat pie out of you. but the kid quickly denies any kind of knowledge about this — and is desperately trying to remove himself from dante's hold.]

[dante does relent, setting the kid back on his feet—it's just playing around, after all!—and the kid scampers off the opposite way to meet his friends. orphans have it rough in midgar.]

Hey, hey, mister polished!

[casual as can be, dante approaches with nonchalance and a smartass vibe.]

I've been here, in my shop, minding my own business. I ain't got anything to talk to your kind, so if this is one of those schemes to get me thrown into jail, I won't go quietly. I got a clean-ass record to upkeep.